A goat run and a divine appointment

So I'd like to tell you a story that happened while we were back in the city after our last trek to the countryside. It will describe just how the Lord makes things happen that he wants to. To do this I'm just going to tell you one of my journal entries for that day, I feel like it'll explain it best.

Sometime between 12 and 1 we were told that we were going on a walk. So my partner, the pastor (Harry), me, Reed (our translator and national partner), and Suzanna (Harry's daughter who it feels like she and Reed like each other) all set off on a journey that would end up being hours of walking in the hottest heat I've experienced thus far in the summer, and stopping here and there at apparently every one of Harry's most extended family members house to sit for a while then have to drink drinks offered to us made with unfiltered water that I knew would get me sick.

At the end of this exodus of a "walk," I found out that the entire event had been to find goats to buy. GOATS!!! Needless to say I was a little perturbed, feeling like this was a waste of my time chasing down goats, sitting through conversations that I don't understand nor had any part in, and feeling a little bit like a chaperone to my little brother's first junior high date. (Note: Our translator is not in junior high. He's 20 years old, but is only 5' 2" so it kind of felt like if for a little bit.)

So we were heading home, two extremely vocal and obstinate goats in tow, a monsoonal rain bearing down on us, and a national that seemed like he didn't know exactly where he was going. We got to a corner and Harry was asking for directions from a lady standing underneath her porch, when we looked down the road and saw the rain was hitting the pavement not 30 yards away from us -- then it hit. We darted for the woman's house to escape the downpour and took shelter underneath the tin overhang of her house.

We sat underneath that for a while, and then the national speakers went inside the house. I had been an observer of far too many conversations that day, so my partner and I opted to stay outside and enjoy the rain. We sat there just sitting and watching till the rain had finished, but the nationals didn't come out, so we just made awkward, broken English conversations with the woman's son and daughter, who had shown up after the rain stopped.

Then Reed called us inside. As I stepped in the room, the entire day seemed to flip on its head. You see, there on the bed was the woman's other daughter, whose legs were bowed out and obviously underdeveloped, even though she was 14. We got to pray as a group over her and I finished with a prayer of healing. Whenever we looked up from praying, we found the entire family in the room and the mother in tears. Now I can't say we saw a miraculous healing then, but I have faith that God is going to use that event for his glory and fame, because the Holy Spirit was so apparent in getting us to that house. A goat run ended in a divine appointment.

It really is amazing how the Holy Spirit can lead you places even when you thought where you were going was pointless.

B.B., a student from Texas A&M University, is serving with Go Now Missions in South Asia.